The economics of impact statements

Canadian firm Nautilus Minerals commissions an environmental study on the proposed deep-sea Solwara 1 mine, and it comes out with a good report for the company (30 July, p 38). Surprise!

I trained to do environmental impact assessments at university but realised when graduating that, as they are almost invariably commissioned by developers, you won't make a living if your reports are too critical.

Until reports are commissioned by the state, independently of corporate interests, there seems to be little point in them.